Module 5: Working with Projects
5.3 Project Team
In this lesson you will learn know how to get your project staffed with named resources and how this is done using Clarity.
PMs need to know what they can and can not do with resource staffing and the process to follow for the things they can't do.
You can staff projects in the following ways:
Direct selection: Using this method, you select the resources or roles you want to add to your project from a list of available resources and roles. When you add staff to your project directly, you are automatically booking them to the project. This method is particularly useful when you are pressed for time.
Requisitions: This is an advanced method and is not in the scope of this course. Most organizations learn the direct method first with the interactions between the Project Manager and the Resource Manager prior to getting into the formal requisition process. Use Clarity to build a project team that consists of the following members:
Staff: Only staff members can be assigned to tasks and can record the time they work on the tasks in their timesheets.
Participants: Project participants use project-level collaboration tools to discuss and monitor project progress, and view general project properties.
Use the Team tab to access your project team information. You can access the pages contained within this tab from any project page by selecting the Team tab.
Best Practice Staffing Sequence in build the Project Plan
1. Staff the project with roles (these will be replaced by resources later)
2. Plan the project using Roles assigned to the tasks
3. Based on the final schedule, determine Role demands by period
4. Review the Role demands by period with the Resource Manager
5. Resource Manager provides named resources and replaces the roles
Note: You can staff a project with multiple instances of the same role but you cannot add multiple instances of the same named resource to a project.
Project Team Portlet
Properties - Click this icon to view some of the basic resource profile fields, and to change allocation information, including planned and hard allocations.
Resource Finder - Click this icon to replace a resource or role with a different resource or role.
Click the resource name to view the resource or role‘s Resource Properties: Main - General page.
Resource allocation - Click this icon to go to the Resource/Role Allocations page for that resource or role.
Project Role -This column identifies the resource‘s role on the project, which can be different from the primary role selected in the resource‘s profile.
Time - A yellow checkmark appears in this column if the resource or role is allowed to enter time worked on this project.
Booking Status - This column identifies whether the resource or role has been hard booked, soft booked, or mixed booked.
Hard: the resource has been committed to the project.
Soft: the resource has been tentatively scheduled for the project.
Mixed: both soft and hard allocations exist for the resource.
Note: The "Mixed" booking option may not be available to you depending on your project management settings. For more information, contact your Clarity administrator.
Start date – The date that the resource allocations start on the project. Unless changed, this date defaults to the project start date.
Finish Date – The date that the resource allocations end on the project. Unless changed, this date defaults to the project finish date.
Allocation - This column displays the number of hours the resource has been tentatively booked to the project. Unless you change the booking dates, Clarity will automatically book staff
members for the entire duration of the project. Staff members may or may not be assigned to tasks for all of the hours they are allocated to the project. The Allocation cells are not editable but will change to reflect edits you make using:
The setting allocation options
The new allocation curves defined on the Project Staff Member: Properties page
The Shift Allocation option.
Actuals - This column displays the total number of hours the resource has recorded to date for tasks on this project.
ETC - Estimated Time to Complete. This column displays Clarity‘s estimate of how many hours the resource will work on the project based on the number of working days they have been assigned to tasks, and on the number of hours they are available each day.
When adding resources to your project staff, the resource may be overallocated. If this occurs a confirmation page appears that allows you to either overallocate the resource, or to accept any remaining availability the resource might have.
Note: You can add multiple instances of a role to a project but not multiple instances of the same named resource. For example, a project‘s ―programmer (1)‖ and ―programmer (2)‖ staffing requirements may both be assigned to the same task.
To add a resource or role to the project staff
1. Open the project. The Project Properties: Main - General page appears.
2. Click the Team tab. The Project Team: Staff page appears.
3. Click Add. The Select Resources page appears.
Note: To add project team members to your project at the OBS level, from the Project Team: Staff page, click Add/Update by OBS.
4. Select the resources and/or roles you want to add to the project staff. Use the
Search Filter to find resources or roles by name or other criteria.
Editing Staff Member Details
Once you have added the resource or role to the project, use the Staff Member Properties page to specify the details for that staffing requirement. When you have specified the details, create requisitions for the staffing requirements.
To edit staff member details:
1. Click the Team tab. The Project Team: Staff page appears.
2. Click the Properties icon for the resource or role to specify the details for that
staffing requirement. The Staff Member Properties page appears.
3. Specify the staff member properties:
Booking Status - Choose the staff member‘s booking status. They can either be soft, hard, or mixed booked on the project. A "Mixed" status indicates that both soft and hard allocations exist for the team member. The booking status is set automatically by Clarity when team members are booked or their allocation changes. You can also set the booking status manually.
For a resource to have separate hard and soft allocations, the system setting for Allow Mixed Booking must be turned on. For more information about this setting, see your Clarity administrator.
Request status – Only used in association with Resource Requisitions. Investment Role - The role that the resource is being requested to do for this investment (for example, developer, business analyst, or architect).
Planned Allocation - This value represents the time duration for which the resource is needed on the project.
Hard Allocation - This value represents the total amount of hard-booked availability the resource has to the project (as filled out by the resource manager).
Exercises: Lessons 1 - 3
1. Create a new Project (or open one created for you for this class by the administrator). Edit the name of the project to XXX PM and RM Course Project (where XXX are your initials). 2. Complete the Properties>Main>General fields with appropriate values. Make sure that the project is set to Active and that it is not a Program and it is not a template.
3. Complete the Properties>Schedule fields with appropriate values. Have the Start Date to the beginning of this week and a Finish date of 4 weeks in duration. Make sure the ‗Set Planned Cost Dates‘ is checked.
4. Complete the Risk Evaluation on the page Properties>Risk with appropriate values. 5. Complete the Properties>Budget page with the following values: USD, $50,000 planned cost, $150,000 planned benefit, benefit start date at the end of the project and a duration of two years, and check the ‗Calculate NPV data box.
6. Create one new Risk under Risks/Issues/Changes>Risks and complete all description and quantification information. Complete the Risk Response Strategy.
7. Create one new Issue under Risks/Issues/Changes>Issues and complete all description and quantification information.
8. Staff the Project Team with Developer and Architect Roles and add yourself as the Project Manager role.